Mary Kirk
Consultant to the Center for Partnership Studies
Award-winning Professor, Metropolitan State University
Writer
Speaker
Dr. Kirk's first book, Gender and Information Technology: Moving Beyond Access to Co-Create Global Partnership (Information Science Reference, 2009) explores how shifting from domination towards partnership systems might help us move beyond the simplistic notion of "access" to co-create a real digital revolution worldwide. In her Foreword to Kirk's book, Riane Eisler said:
Gender and Information Technology offers finely crafted tools for narrowing the digital divide that perpetuates inequality and injustice worldwide, marginalizing women and other socially disempowered groups. [Kirk] offers us a treasure trove of fascinating information that alternately enlightens, enrages, and empowers us to take an active role in creating a more just and caring future.
Since 2000, Kirk has been teaching in the Individualized, Interdisciplinary & Lifelong Learning program at Metropolitan State University in St. Paul, MN. She received the 2007 Excellence in Teaching Award at her current university, and has been nominated for teaching awards a total of six times at two universities. From 1996-2000, Kirk taught technical writing, women in computing, and ethics in computing in the Computing and Software Systems program at the University of Washington, Bothell.
Her scholarship is interdisciplinary and Kirk has written on a variety of topics including feminist science studies, women’s heroic journey, leadership and teaching. She has presented panels and papers on women in science and technology at multiple conferences such as the National Women’s Studies Association annual conference and the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing. Her publications include NWSA Journal, NWSAction, Feminist Teacher, the Journal of Homosexuality, the Journal of Computing in Small Colleges, and a chapter in Goran Trajkovski's Diversity in Information Technology Education: Issues and Controversies (Information Science Publishing, 2006).
Kirk holds an MA in Women’s Literature from the University of Illinois at Springfield (1996) and a Ph.D. in Women’s Studies/Women in Computing from Union Institute & University (2000). Prior to her academic career, Kirk worked as a freelance journalist, public information specialist, and spent seven years as a technical writer at companies such as IBM, Schlumberger, and Microsoft.
Website: www.marykirk.net
